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Astros showcase top prospects against Mets

3/25/13: Jonathan Singleton drives in three runs and ties the game with a triple over the head of a leaping Denard Span in the seventh

By Brian McTaggart
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MLB.com |

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Astros manager Bo Porter gave most of his regular players the day off Wednesday after the team arrived home late Tuesday following a game in Tampa. That also allowed Porter to bring several of the team's top prospects to Tradition Field to face the Mets.

Eighteen-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa, last year's No. 1 overall pick in the First-Year Player Draft, and first baseman Jonathan Singleton, the team's No. 1 prospect according to MLB.com, joined outfielder George Springer in the lineup against the Mets. Correa singled in his first at-bat and stole second base.

"It's always a big thrill and a special opportunity to not only start, but to just go out and play," Springer said.

Springer, the team's first-round pick in 2011, is likely headed to Double-A Corpus Christi to start the season. He played most of last year at Class A Lancaster and got his feet wet at Corpus Christi at the end of the season.

"From the at-bats I got, I know how it's going to be," he said. "I got to face the same stuff out in the [Arizona] Fall League, and I know what I'm getting myself into. Being here and being in camp with the Triple-A guys has prepared me for it."

Second baseman Delino DeShields, who was named the club's Minor League Player of the Year after stealing 101 bases last year, is likely headed to Lancaster after nearly two full seasons at Class A Lexington.

"I've been working my butt off trying to make a team," he said. "It's not where you start, it's where you finish. I'm going to do what I did last year and see where I end up."

DeShields and Singleton will leave on the charter with the Major League club on Thursday and will play in this weekend's exhibition games at Minute Maid Park against the Cubs.

"I'm pretty excited to travel with the team and get a good feeling for what that's going to be like," DeShields said. "Getting to play in that stadium, it's going to be a really good feeling. It just means they're looking at us, they're watching us and they're excited for the future. I'm just happy to be out there."